Basic Tips for new Commanders

[xdesperado]

Here's some tips to help new players.
ntsheep has a nice guide and more experience with game so consider this a supliment to that.

1) First, look through the Requisition tree and click on details. Do this before you spend a single RP.
You want to have a basic strategy for your Squad in place so you need to know the map of how to get where you want to be.

2) Second, look at all the abilities for each of your available Templars and decide which ones are going to be a focus for that Templar, then refer back to the Requisition tree to get your basic strategy mapped out.

3) Third, when you unlock the Soldier, Engineer and Scout recruit extras in HQ. Make sure you have at least two of each and I'd recommend getting 3-4. Do this in HQ before/between deployments.
Reason for this is so you can give them the Talents, Gear and Attributes/Skills you want.
In early game with low levels this isn't as cruicial but later in campaign if you want to deploy a certain specialist best have them in your Veterans because the Default won't have the package your looking for.
You probably won't need an extra Hydra, Neptune or Paladin but then again it never hurts to have an extra in your Veterans ready to go.

4) Fourth, decide early if your going with Hydra, Neptune or Berserkers.
Especially early-mid game your RP is a precious commodity with little to no extra.
Choosing one specialist will allow you to keep your Squad mostly ahead on usable Talents and Gears.

5a) After completing a level, check your Veterans to see who's leveled. Look to see if they have a talent point to spend, if so see if you've unlocked the desired Talent levels.
Try not to just settle for an alternative, if a Talent/level isn't unlocked yet then see if you have the RP available to unlock the Requisition. This is where knowing the Requisition Tree and planning ahead pays off.

5b) After looking to see if new Talents are available and that you can train the ones you want look at Gear slots. Are you able to fill your Templars with best available gear? If not can you unlock better gear on Requisition tree?

5c) Early game you'll mostly just be keeping up with Talents and Gear for your Squad, by mid game you should have a bit more leeway in spending RP as your Core Talents will have been mostly unlocked to usable levels.
(Note; I said usable levels not max level. No reason to spend RP unlocking a Talent to 10th level if your Templar is only using 4th level.)
Once you get a bit of RP that doesn't have to be spent for needed immediate unlocks start looking at setting up for unlocking Ordinance and more specialized/advanced Gears.
For certain Ordanance/Gears you may need to spend RP in parts of Tree you'd otherwise pass on.
Example I like grenades, give a quick little extra Damage to help finish off stubborn Xeno or to soften up groups of them. However they aren't a focus Talent for either my Captain or Soldiers, one or two levels is usually all they get. However mid-late game I will spend the RP on the Grenadier Requisition branches so I'll be able to get resuplied from TP if needed..

Hope these tips will be helpful to new commanders, Vae Victus!

[fallen]

Nice tips, +1!

[xdesperado]

Nov 16, 2015 18:41:39 GMT -5 fallen said:

Nice tips, +1!

Thanks, got to thinking about this during my last deployment Orbital Defense Battery.
Had all 10 of my Veterans deployed including both Engineers, and two free deployment slots, would have loved a 3rd Engineer with Heat Sink and Turrets but settled for recruiting a 3rd Soldier and 4th Scout, neither with the Talents/Gear/Attributes/Skills I'd want but still able to help hold TPs till I could get the last TP/Defense Battery operational.

Not having the Specialists I wanted ready to go in Veterans slowed me down a little and could have been a real problem if the battle had dragged out much longer.

The rest of the tips are just about forming a strategy from start and then spending RP and Trains accordingly.

Even with unlimited free Re-Spec it's better in my opinion to mostly build according to a set plan with focused training than either dabble in little bits of this and that with no focus or be constantly trying to Re-Spec as stuff is unlocked.

[fallen]

Nov 16, 2015 19:03:10 GMT -5 xdesperado said:

Even with unlimited free Re-Spec it's better in my opinion to mostly build according to a set plan with focused training than either dabble in little bits of this and that with no focus or be constantly trying to Re-Spec as stuff is unlocked.

In this regard, it is a lot like Heroes of Steel -- focus can be very successful if done right. Dabble can be pretty darn good too, but especially for a new Commander, picking a plan and marching to it is a great idea!

[ntsheep]

These are great tips and I hope new players make sure to check this out before getting frustrated and maybe leaving bad reviews. One of the neat things about the game is as you go up in difficulty, plans that may have worked before won't and you need to rethink your tactics. Planning ahead for specialist Templars and gear they need is very important. Best example is the difference in the path I've laid out in Normal and Ironman. In Normal I have you pulling out a Hydra in the Ferarai Lance boarding, in Ironman it's a Paladin. Always pulling out an extra Templar near the end of a level if you can is another great tip. Never hurts to have an extra is very true.

[CdrPlatypus]

ntsheep I don't pull out a paladin myself until after all the Nyra missions. I focus on developing early ranged firepower on ironman. It may seem insane, but with a melee cpt I find little use for a palidan until rubric 5.

I think if you go for a ranged cpt then the first thing you should pull out is a palidan.

I have mixed feelings on the beserker. Fun, but I feel just too expensive. I understand 600sp for engineers and Palidans, but I don't feel beserker cost is justified.

Engineer comes with 2 mini solider (turrets) and palidan with a stack of medkits. But beserker is just a melee heavy. I'd rather spend a hundred less to pull out a newbie Neptune

[tenbsmith]

xdesperado, that's a useful set of tips. I think having some sort of plan is important, though I imagine one would do o.k. if if one only reviewed part of the tree and had a plan that was a bit elastic on lower levels of difficulty and/or first play through.

I'm finding the Requisition Tree a bit difficult to absorb on my first play through, I've gone to it several times and I'm still learning. I forget which nodes I'd already read. Since i was moving left to right, I never made it over to the Paladin side to see the Medkit node. The ST4X tree was a bit easier to get because it was simpler, two main branches. I wonder if a bit more visual distinction in the nodes would help new players. I also think some early advice on the Req Tree in the tutorial would be a nice add. Specifically, giving the player advice on how to unlock Medkit would help them learn the tree and about Ordinance.

For this, my first play through on Normal, my commander is equally developing ranged and melee attacks. I'll unlock a Paladin after my current mission to serve as primary melee. I'm hoping on normal i can get away with some dabbling for my core team as it's a good way to learn about a broader range of talents.

fallen and others, it seems to me in HoS specializing is more important when playing higher difficulty levels. Do you agree? Is the same true for Battleforce?

[ntsheep]

One great thing about the game CdrPlatypus is all the different ways of building and playing a squad. I'm trying to write my guides with beginners in mind. The path I lay out is a fairly easy one. It's meant to help guide them in understanding how the Requisition Tree works, how to select gear and talents. How certain combos of gear,weapons, and talents are effective. Because of all the ways to build your team, there's difficulty within the difficulty setting. In a normal game I won't pull out a Paladin until very late sometimes. It's possible to go the whole game without one. However as you climb up in difficulty, some Templars just make better sense to get out sooner rather than later. The new heat rules are also making the game more of a challenge. Trying to go for the secondary objectives in the Airlock level is just too hard on Ironman. I got down just near the last lock, everyone was over heated to the point they were about to shutdown. The Paladin I had brought was out of healing points in his talents. All I could do was sit there while xeno spawned around me and then killed my Scout and my turn count was right at 18. I've done that level before in about 11 turns on Ironman even with the new heat rule. From my understanding of the math behind the bonus system, it doesn't seem to be worth it for those 10 extra point when you can get a better bonus from getting a low turn count score. The standard in video games for difficulty levels is usually enemies get stronger and there's more of them. You get weaker or don't have as much equipment, gear, weapons, etc. With the TB's it's a whole new game. You have to forget everything you know or think you know. Unlearn what you've learned and completely shift your tactics and play style. To me this is great. It's not just replaying the game, it's like playing for the first time all over again. The TB's have found a way to not only cause multiple joygasms, but repop your game cherry at the same time. Hell, after an intense battle in any of their games I'm tempted to light one up and I don't smoke.

[ntsheep]

tenbsmith, if you don't mind spoilers, read my guide. On Normal you can play around quite a bit with the Requisition Tree. Having a clear path isn't that necessary. Once you go up in difficulty, a planned out path helps. One good is to try and have one extra Engineer and Scout. There will be a point in the game you're given an extra Scout, but you get get a second Engineer unless you recruit one on your own. Like gundamgoth, I love Engineers because of the Sentry Turrets. Those things at level 10 are deadly and can hold off hoards of xenos with no trouble at all.

[tenbsmith]

ha ha, tempted to smoke.... Anyhow, I've discovered the beauty of turrets. I'm skipping spoilers for this play through, and will check out your guide next time, and play on a higher difficulty level.

I'm good with general advice. That's sort of like a new commander getting advice from more experienced officers. I just don't want specifics on what happens or how to run the levels.

I like the idea of a Paladin, 'cause I like the idea of being able to heal troops, especially the most senior members of your core team.

[ntsheep]

The path I use in the guide is just one of the many ways to play. Hydra, Neptune, Berserk, and Paladin fans will want to get there quickly and can focus their RP points on those instead of going with the tree map I've laid out. To each their own. No one way is the best way. If that was the case, there wouldn't be any fun in the game.

[NoQuitt]

Nov 17, 2015 1:13:01 GMT -5 CdrPlatypus said:

ntsheep I don't pull out a paladin myself until after all the Nyra missions. I focus on developing early ranged firepower on ironman. It may seem insane, but with a melee cpt I find little use for a palidan until rubric 5.

Ha! That's my exact approach. In my previous play through I found that I couldn't afford the paladin often enough early on and he would occasionally level up to due to captain's level, and this was effectively a big waste of SP every time I brought him out. This time around I am waiting until after the Nyrra missions.

Lots of good advice in this thread. ntsheep, those Airlock side objectives are definitely no longer worth it (were they ever?) I have lost 2 scouts trying to get that silly medkit

[contributor]

Nov 17, 2015 1:13:01 GMT -5 CdrPlatypus said:

ntsheep I don't pull out a paladin myself until after all the Nyra missions. I focus on developing early ranged firepower on ironman. It may seem insane, but with a melee cpt I find little use for a palidan until rubric 5.

I think if you go for a ranged cpt then the first thing you should pull out is a palidan.

I have mixed feelings on the beserker. Fun, but I feel just too expensive. I understand 600sp for engineers and Palidans, but I don't feel beserker cost is justified.

Engineer comes with 2 mini solider (turrets) and palidan with a stack of medkits. But beserker is just a melee heavy. I'd rather spend a hundred less to pull out a newbie Neptune

You and I are thinking so alike about this game right now that it's scary. Almost as scary as me catching up to you on the ironman boards.

[ntsheep]

At lower difficulty levels, the secondary objectives do help NoQuitt. You can beat that level and still get a good turn bonus. I wasted a total of four turns just having to sit because of heat. It was perfect no win situation. To defend myself I had to attack, attacking raised my heat and used my MP. With out the bonus for having MP left, heat just wasn't disappearing quick enough. Earlier I said I've beat in 11 turns but I can actually do it 8. Just played a few minutes and didn't go after the bonuses and still was pushing heat a little high. Not anywhere near shutdown levels, but enough to cause trouble.

[CdrPlatypus]

ntsheep agreed that the multiple ways to play in TBF is amazing. Right now I'm taking a break from chasing Ironman score and doing some boost ins on nightmare just to play with different stratagies.